Auction Block

As residential real-estate auctions roll across the state with the regularity of ocean waves, one of the nation's leading auction companies said Tuesday it has been retained to sell 26 units in the Ocean Vistas condominium in Daytona Beach Shores. Ocean Vistas is a luxury-resort condo with 108 units on 2.5 acres of beachfront property. Accelerated Marketing Partners said it will auction the unsold units with minimum bids starting at about $255,000 -- as much as 73 percent below previous asking prices.

If federal prosecutors have their way, Leonard Potillo's fleet of luxury cars and homes around the world will hit the auction block. Potillo, a Longwood debt collector, is accused of running a $76 million fraud-and-bribery scheme that authorities say funded his opulent lifestyle. Prosecutors have already detailed Potillo's assets they intend to seize if he's convicted - those items they say were bought with "ill-gotten gains. " Through the federal government's asset-forfeiture program, the public can buy boats once owned by drug dealers, homes owned by spies and diamond rings bought by fraudsters.

Bidding is under way at Auction.com for a 367-room Howard Johnson hotel at 6051 Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway in Kissimmee. The starting bid for the hotel was set at $1 million. A notice advertising the auction said the hotel logged occupancy of 52.9 percent during the year leading up to March. The average daily rate was $25.60. Bidding will end at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

LEESBURG - Lake Square Mall still buzzed with shoppers when Myrna and Richard Hasman moved to the city northwest of Orlando 14 years ago. Storefronts were mostly filled and the food court was packed with hungry customers. But Lake County's only enclosed mall has been struggling for years. Still, mall lovers such as the Hasmans were shocked and saddened by word last week that the largest anchor store, Target, is closing and the mall is going up for auction. "There used to be much more activity," said Myrna Hasman, 75, after a foray with her 81-year-old husband to purchase slippers, socks and a pocketbook.

CITY YARD SALE. The city of Orlando wants to sell you a car - or a truck, tractor or lawn mower. More than 80 used vehicles will be sold at a public auction Saturday. The vehicles include 23 eight-cylinder, four-door sedans that had been used as police cars. Everything to be sold can be inspected from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and from 7 to 9 a.m. Saturday at the city's motor vehicle yard, 800 W. Gore Ave.

LEESBURG - Lake Square Mall still buzzed with shoppers when Myrna and Richard Hasman moved to the city northwest of Orlando 14 years ago. Storefronts were mostly filled and the food court was packed with hungry customers. But Lake County's only enclosed mall has been struggling for years. Still, mall lovers such as the Hasmans were shocked and saddened by word last week that the largest anchor store, Target, is closing and the mall is going up for auction. "There used to be much more activity," said Myrna Hasman, 75, after a foray with her 81-year-old husband to purchase slippers, socks and a pocketbook.

Some patients of a St. Petersburg doctor were unnerved to learn that when she stopped paying rent on a storage unit, it's contents were scheduled for auction. Among those contents: Patient medical records. According to the St. Petersburg Times story, discarded medical records show up in dumpsters occasionally. A year ago in Denver, an abandoned storage unit was found to contain an identity theft operation. Among the computers and printers, were stolen medical records. To read the whole story, go to http://www.

TORONTO -- A herd of 141 fiberglass moose went up for sale Monday as Toronto auctioned off some of the painted, decorated animals that have stood guard outside city banks and stores for months. The life-size hulks were part of a Moose in the City exhibition designed to increase tourism. Toronto, Canada's financial capital, estimates that the animals attracted 2 million visitors to the city from April to October.

An auction of valuable and collectible books will be held Saturday in Eustis as part of the annual statewide meeting of the Florida Antiquarian Booksellers Association. The auction, which will be conducted by Jeff Davis of Jefferson Davis Auction Galleries in Eustis, will be open to the public and will be attended by collectors and specialist booksellers.The auction will feature a rare 1729 edition of Philppus Cluverius Introductionis In Universam Geographium with 46 engraved 17th-century maps.

The Green Hornet, a storied Shelby Mustang prototype that many pony car enthusiasts assumed was destroyed decades ago, will come up for auction early next year. The Barrett-Jackson auction house will sell the car at its Scottsdale auction on Jan. 19. The Shelby "represents a rolling history of what Ford and Shelby American, the auto-design firm owned by Carroll Shelby, were producing in the heyday of the American muscle-car era and is considered one of the most innovative and unique vehicles of its time," said Craig Jackson, chief executive of Barrett-Jackson and the current owner of the car. It is expected to sell for about $2 million.

You too can now own a piece of college football history. The motorcycle that Bobby Petrino wrecked that ultimately led to his dismal as head coach at Arkansas has reportedly gone on the auction block. According to Arkansasmatters.com , Petrino's 2007 Harley Davidson Road King is now listed on Copart.com with a value of $16,000. However, the listing goes on to explain that it does require some work – estimated at $18,000. Petrino was driving the vehicle early last month when he wreck it outside of Fayetteville.

ORANGE, Calif. _ The sale of Nadya Suleman's home in the Orange County community of La Habra was put off Monday for two more weeks at the request of the foreclosure company. What that means as to how long Suleman _ known as "Octomom" because she is the mother of octuplets _ and her 14 children can stay in the four-bedroom, three-bathroom house is unclear. This is the second sale postponement. Suleman recently began bankruptcy proceedings. Her case is scheduled for a hearing in Santa Ana's federal courthouse next month.

Outside the Silver Spurs Arena, the smell of gasoline was heavy as gearheads wandered among aisles of gleaming cars on a gorgeous Tuesday afternoon. Vehicles of every conceivable make, model and era were lined up in lots and under tents. Looking for a 1941 Packard Clipper sedan? Maybe a souped-up, 21/2 - ton military transport truck, known during World War II as a deuce-and-a-half? How about a 1988 Mazda RX-7 that appeared in one of the "Fast and Furious" movies? They're all here, neatly sorted by the day they're scheduled to hit the auction block.

Bidding is under way at Auction.com for a 367-room Howard Johnson hotel at 6051 Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway in Kissimmee. The starting bid for the hotel was set at $1 million. A notice advertising the auction said the hotel logged occupancy of 52.9 percent during the year leading up to March. The average daily rate was $25.60. Bidding will end at 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Remember the Western movie and TV star Hopalong Cassidy? Then you may recall that his favorite mode of transportation was his horse, Topper. But when actor William Boyd wasn't on the set, he drove a 1933 Duesenberg Model J Torpedo Victoria. That Duesenberg will be on the auction block in Florida in the next month at one of several major auto auctions that are held here annually. Expected price: $1 million. But the star of that particular RM Auctions event, to be held March 12 at the Amelia Island Concours, will be 1952 Ferrari 340 Mexico Coupe, one of only three built, and this particular car has a rich racing history.

A statute of Yoda and other property owned by Lou Pearlman is heading to the auction block on Saturday, WESH.com is reporting. Assets from the bankruptcy case involving the former boy-band mogul will be up for sale at 10 a.m. Saturday at Ewald Auction and Realty's location on Old Cheney Highway in Orange County, WESH.com said. To read the full story on WESH.com, click here .

More artifacts from the world of former pop music mogul and convicted Ponzi schemer Lou Pearlman are set to be auctioned in Orlando on Saturday as part of his bankruptcy liquidation, officials said this week. It is the final auction involving the three-year bankruptcy case of Pearlman, who was convicted in 2008 of running a $300 million financial scheme that defrauded hundreds of people. The event is scheduled for 10 a.m. at Ewald Auction & Realty, 12472 Lake Underhill Road, Suite 312. Items will include recording tapes of artists such as Take 5, 95 South and celebrity Brooke Hogan; and original movie tapes from the film "Longshot.